Friction device for lifting lid box



Jan. 1, 1957 E. B. MORGAN 2,775,781

FRICTION DEVICE FOR LIFTING LID BOX Filed Sept. 1. 1954 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR ATTORNEY United States Patent FRICTION DEVICE FOR LIFTING LID BOX Erving B. Morgan, Grand Rapids, Mich., assignor to American Seating Company, Grand Rapids, Mich a corporation of New Jersey Application September 1, 1954, Serial No. 453,625 7 Claims. (Cl. 16-86) The present invention relates to a friction device for a lifting lid box, and more particularly to such a device for use on the lifting lid book box of a school desk.

The primary objects of the invention are to provide a friction device for a lifting lid box which is constructed and arranged within the box so as to cushion raising and lowering movements of the hinged lid of the box; to provide such a friction device which permits relatively free movement of the lid between its shut position and its extreme open position; to provide such a device in which increased friction comes to bear when the lid is in its extreme raised or open position so as to maintain the lid in such open position; to provide such a device in which increased friction comes to bear as the lid approaches its lowered or shut position, whether lowered manually or permitted to descend by gravity, so as to cushion the final closing movement of the lid and thus prevent any banging noise; to provide such a friction device having means whereby the amount of friction brought to bear may be adjusted; and in general to provide such a friction device which is quiet and efficient in operation, reasonably economical in manufacture, and attractive in appearance.

An illustrative embodiment of the invention is shown in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a book box for the upper end of the supporting pedestal (shown fragmentarily) of a school desk or the like;

Figure 2 is a fragmentary inside side elevational view of parts of the book box and showing my new friction device applied thereto, the lid of the box being shown in vertical section taken on line 22 of Figure 3;

Figure 3 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view of the same taken on line 3-3 of Figure 2;

Figure 4 is a perspective view of a friction plate, per se, of the friction device; and

Figures 5, 6 and 7 are enlarged, fragmentary sectional views of the friction device, the line of section being indicated by the line 5 of Figure 2, and certain parts of the device being shown in different moved positions in these three views.

Referring now in detail to these drawings, the drawn sheet metal book box 10 is, per se, of more or less conventional form and is adapted for mounting on top of a supporting pedestal 11 of a school desk or the like. The box comprises a bottom 12, and upstanding side walls 13, 14, front wall 15 and rear wall 16. A lid 17 for the box is hingedly connected to the front wall 15 of the box as by means of a piano-type hinge 18, the lid being thus swingable for raising and lowering movements between open and shut positions relative to the box.

As shown the box is equipped with two of the new friction devices, one at each side of the box, and inasmuch as these devices are identical except for being made in right and left form, only one of them-the one on the right hand side-4s here described in detail.

A generally arcuate casing 19 has a forwardly extending flange 20 secured as by means of rivets 21 to the side 'ice wall 14 of the box. The casing has a curved front wall 22 extending inwardly from the flange 20, a vertical inside wall 23 spaced inwardly from the side wall 14 of the box and extending rearwardly from the curved front wall 22 of the casing, and a curved rear wall 24 extending outwardly from the vertical wall 23 of the casing and into abutment against the side wall 14 of the box. The vertical wall 23 of the casing is generally normal to the axis of the hinge connection between the box 10 and its lid 17.

A bearing member 25 has a rear tab 26 extended through a slot 27 in the rear wall 24 of the casing and by this means the bearing member is mounted at its rearward end for swinging movement relative to the casing. The forward end of the bearing member 25 is secured to the casing by means of an adjustment screw 28 which passes through the vertical wall 23 of the casing and is threaded into the bearing member 25. The purpose of so mounting the bearing member 25 is hereinafter more fully described.

The opposed faces of the casings vertical wall 23 and the bearing member 25 are provided with friction pads 29, 31} respectively secured thereto by means of rivets 31, 32 also respectively. These friction pads 29, 30 are here shown as circular in form and may be made of any material having suitable friction properties such as leather, fiber, plastic or even metal if the latter possesses the desired properties.

A generally arcuate friction plate 33, shown per se in Figure 4, is secured to the underside of the lid 17 as by means of woodscrews 34 passing through apertures 35 in the inwardly turned flange 36 at the upper end of this plate 33. The arcuate body of this friction plate 33 is concentric with the hinge connection between the box 10 and its lid 17, and the plate 33 depends from the lid 17 into the casing 19 between the friction pads 29, 3t) and bears against said pads during the raising and lowering movements of the lid between its extreme open and its shut positions. The lower end of the friction plate 33 is flanged outwardly to provide a stop 37 adapted to con- 7 tact the bearing member 25 to limit the raising movement of the lid to its extreme open position shown in Figure 1 and indicated in broken lines in Figure 2, in which position of the lid ready access may be had to the interior of the book box.

The friction plate 33 is provided at its lower end with an outwardly embossed protuberance 38 which in the extreme open position of the lid 17 compresses the friction pad 3%) to thus provide increased friction between the plate 33 and the pad 30 so as to releasably maintain the lid in its extreme open position. The user of the box is thus relieved of holding the lid open, and is permitted free use of both hands to deposit articles in, or remove them from, the box.

The friction plate 33 is provided at its upper end with another outwardly embossed protuberance 39. This protuberance 39 begins to compress the friction pad 30 as the lid approaches its shut position to thus provide increased friction between the plate 33 and the pad 30 in the final closing movement of the lid, regardless of whether the lid is being lowered manually or permitted to descend by gravity. This cushions the final movement of the lid to its shut position thus eliminating any banging of the lid against the box, which is an especially important consideration in furniture provided for classroom use.

Figure 5 of the drawings illustrates the position of the friction plate 33 between the friction pads 29, 30 when the lid 17 is in its extreme open position, with the plates lower protuberance 38 compressing the pad 30 to produce increased friction. Figure 6 illustrates the position of the friction plate 33 between the pads 29, 30 during the decreased friction middle part of the lids raising or lowering movement. Figure 7 illustrates the position of the friction plate 33 when the lid 17 is approaching or is in its shut position, with the plates upper protuberance 39 compressing the pad 3% to produce increased friction.

While the position of the bearing plate 25 between the vertical wall 23 of the casing 19 and the side wall 14 of the box is generally parallel to said walls, its angle can be Varied slightly by turning the adjustment screw 28, and it will readily be seen that turning the screw 23 in a clockwise direction the friction between the friction pads 29, 3t) and the friction plate 33 therebetwecn can be increased, while opposite turning of the adjustment screw 28 will decrease the friction between these parts. Such adjustment i indicated by the dotted lines in Figure 6. If desired, the position of the bearing plate can be so adjusted that virtually no friction exists during the middle portion of the lids raising movement, thus making it easier to lift the lid.

it will thus be seen that the invention provides a friction device which, although extremely simple and economical in construction, is very effective in its intended purpose, and while but one specific embodiment of the invention has been herein shown and described it will be understood that numerous details may be altered or omitted without departing from the spirit of the invention as the same is defined by the following claims.

I claim:

1. A friction device for a box and a lid therefor hingedly connected to the front wall of the box for swinging movements between open and shut positions relative to the box, comprising: a casing secured to one of the side walls of the box; a friction pad within the casing; and a friction plate of uniform thickness secured to the inside of the lid and extending into the casing, said friction plate bearing against said friction pad with uniform friction permitting free movement of the friction plate during the movement of the lid between open and shut positions, and said plate being embossed to provide a rigid protuberance thereon adapted to compress said friction pad when the lid is in its extreme open position thus to increase the friction between the plate and the pad so as to releasably maintain said lid in said open position.

2. A friction device for a box and a lid therefor hingedly connected to the front wall of the box for swinging movements between open and shut positions relative to the box, comprising: a casing secured to one of the side walls of the box; a friction pad within the casing; and a friction plate of uniform thickness secured to the inside of the lid and extending into the casing, said friction plate bearing against said friction pad with uniform friction permitting free movement of the friction plate during the movement of the lid between open and shut positions, and said plate being embossed to provide a rigid protuberance thereon adapted to compress said friction pad when the lid is in its extreme open position thus to increase the friction between the plate and the pad so as to releasably maintain said lid in said open position, and said plate being embossed to pro vide another rigid protuberance thereon adapted to compress said friction pad when the lid approaches its shut position thus to increase the friction between the plate and the pad so as to cushion the movement of the lid to its shut position.

3. A friction device for an upwardly opening box and a lid therefor hingedly connected to the front wall of the box for raising and lowering movements between open and shut positions relative to the box, comprising: a casing secured to one of the side walls of the box and providing a vertical wall spaced inwardly from said side wall and disposed normal to the axis of the hinge connection between the box and the lid; a friction pad on the outer face of said vertical wall between said wall and the side wall of the box; and a friction plate of uniform thickness secured to the underside of the lid and depending into the casing, said friction plate bearing against said friction pad with uniform friction permitting free movement of the friction plate during the movement of the lid between open and shut positions, said friction plate being embossed to provide a rigid protuberance thereon adapted to compress said friction pad when the lid is in its extreme open position thus to increase the friction between the plate and the pad so as to releasably maintain said lid in said open position, and said friction plate being embossed to provide another rigid protubersince thereon adapted to compress said friction pad when the lid approaches its shut position so as to cushion the movement of the lid to its shut position.

i. A friction device for an upwardly opening box and a lid therefor hingedly connected to the front wall of the box for raising and lowering movements between open and shut positions relative to the box, comprising: a casing secured to one of the side walls of the box and providing a vertical wall spaced inwardly from said side Wall and disposed normal to the axis of the hinge connection between the box and the lid; a bearing plate secured to the vertical wall of the casing between said wall and the side wall of the box in substantial parallelism with said walls, complementary friction pads on the opposed faces of the casings vertical wall and the bearing plate; a friction plate of uniform thickness secured to the underside of said lid and depending into the easing between said friction pads, said friction plate bearing against said friction pads with uniform friction permitting free movement of the friction plate during the movement of the lid between open and shut positions and being embossed to provide a rigid protuberance thereon adapted to compress one of the friction pads when the lid is in its extreme open position thus to increase the friction between the friction plate and said pads so as to releasably maintain said lid in said open position.

5. A friction device according to claim 4 characterized by having the friction plate bent to provide an outwardly turned stop on the lower end of the friction plate adapted to contact the bearing plate to limit the raising movement of the lid to an extreme open position.

6. A friction device according to claim 4 characterized by having the friction plate embossed to provide another rigid protuberance on the friction plate adapted to compress one of the friction pads when the lid approaches its shut position thus to increase the friction between the friction plate and said pads so as to cushion the movement of the lid to its shut position.

7. A friction device for an upwardly opening box and a lid therefor hingedly connected to the front wall of the box for raising and lowering movements between open and shut positions relative to the box, comprising: a. casing secured to one of the side walls of the box and providing a vertical wall spaced inwardly from said side wall and disposed normal to the axis of the hinge connection between the box and the lid, and a rear flange turned outwardly from said vertical wall toward said side wall of the box; a bearing plate disposed between said vertical wall of the casing and said side Wall of the box in substantial parallelism with said walls, said bearing plate ha ing its rearward end swingably connected to the rear flange of the casing; complementary friction pads on the opposed faces of the casings vertical wall and the bearing plate; a friction plate of uniform thickness secured to the underside of said lid and depending into the casing between said friction pads, said friction plate bearing against said friction pads with uniform friction permitting free movement of the friction plate during the movement of the lid between open and shut positions, said friction plate being bent to provide an outwardly turned stop on its lower end adapted to contact said bearing plate to limit the raising movement of the lid, said friction plate being embossed to provide also a rigid protuberance thereon adapted to compress one of said friction pads when the lid is in its extreme open position thus to increase the friction between the friction plate and said pads so as to releasably maintain said lid in said open position, and said friction pad being embossed to provide another rigid protuberance thereon adapted to compress one of said friction pads when the lid approaches its shut position thus to increase the friction between the friction plate and said pads so as to cushion the movement of the lid to its shut position; and an adjustment screw passing through the casings vertical wall and threaded into the forward end of the bearing plate whereby the distance of the bearing plate from said vertical wall may be varied thus to adjust the amount of friction between the friction pads and the friction plate depending therebetween.

UNITED STATES PATENTS References Cited in the file of this patent 330,138 Maurer Nov. 10, 1885 406,840 Jones July 9, 1889 1,280,637 Beadle Oct. 8, 1918 1,791,691 Stevens Feb. 10, 1931 1,905,858 Hamilton Apr. 25, 1933 1,976,081 Merrill Oct. 9, 1934 1,987,060 Hammond Jan. 8, 1935 2,166,970 Schonitzer July 25, 1939 2,232,986 Westrope Feb. 25, 1941 

